


A New Perspective

by jacquelee



Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 03:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13515627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: Lirael contemplates on her new life as future Abhorsen.





	A New Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [fic_promptly](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org) for the prompt Abhorsen Trilogy, any, the last defense against the dark.

For Lirael, being the center of attention was a new thing, something that she had certainly not been prepared for while working in the library, with only the dog as company. Back then, she rather wrote notes than talking even to her fellow librarians but now that was impossible. 

As Abhorsen in Training, everyone expected of her to listen to their woes and stories just as much as they expected both Sabriel and her to fix them. Lirael had known when she had taken on the mantle of Abhorsen in Training that it was an important status, and very different from anything she had ever done and experienced and from the few hours in which she had thought Sabriel was dead, she had gotten a taste of what it would be like to be the Abhorsen. 

What it would be like to be the last defense against the dark. Sabriel did not even have to tell her that that was what the Abhorsen was she knew it as all Clayr did. She knew being Abhorsen meant a life of traveling, of helping people, of pushing back the night. But that it also meant a life of living among the people they helped was something that she had not expected. 

In every town and every village, once they had done what they had been called for, once the evil had been conquered and sent back beyond the Ninth gate, everyone expected them to stay a while. There were feasts in their honor, songs to sing, babies to hug, stories to listen to. 

Sabriel had told her that this had not always been the case. Before, in the dark times of the Interregnum, Abhorsen had become an Omen of even worse things to come. Nobody had wanted to extend an Abhorsen's stay longer than absolutely necessary. But with Sabriel and Touchstone's conquering of Kerrigor, with the royal line reinstituted and with Sabriel now being a part of that royal line, all of that had changed. 

Now, Sabriel was as honored a guest as the King himself and even though the circumstances of her coming were still feared by all, once those were done with, she was less of the Abhorsen and more of the Queen, loved and welcomed by all. And, as her sister, so was Lirael. 

Which, though it was a drastic change and sometimes she caught herself wishing things were still different, was nevertheless something Lirael started to enjoy. Even though people skills were definitely still not her strong suit, it was nice to be welcomed at someone's table not only because of who she was, but because of something she was proud of being and doing. 

It was not the Sight, and some part of her would always mourn that loss, but in a way, it was the feeling of belonging she had yearned for her entire life. She was still a Clayr, a Remembrancer and would one day be the Abhorsen, the latest one in the long line of those who stood against evil.

It was not what she had expected her life to be but it was enough. It was her path and she would walk it to whatever end.


End file.
